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Old 08-09-2018, 07:09 PM
 
Location: Upstate NY 🇺🇸
36,754 posts, read 14,714,499 times
Reputation: 35577

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Getting back to the topic, that particular infraction is very commonplace. I don't understand it, either, because pluralizing is easy. Sadly, many people want to add apostrophes where they don't belong.

Another place apostrophes do not belong, ever, is in Wegmans. Yet shoppers who pass that storefront daily, or shop there more often than they care to, insert an apostrophe--both in the store name, and in reference to their products (they don't use a comma to denote possession [as in Wegmans'], either).

The company, itself, has never had one, though there might have been an apostrophe when Bob, as a boy, was operating a push cart through the streets of Rochester.
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Old 08-09-2018, 07:37 PM
 
2,564 posts, read 1,623,480 times
Reputation: 10069
Quote:
Originally Posted by canudigit View Post
Am I the only one who is driven crazy by otherwise educated people doing this on a regular basis? I just don't get it, it is basic English grammar that we should have learned in elementary school!

I cringe when I get emails from my manager at work, and she does this consistently in all of her emails, not to mention not being able to differentiate between "affect" and "effect". Here is a sample sentence from one of her group emails: "Professional nurse's should not be calling off this often, it effects everyone, not just you." This from a woman with a four year college degree!

I'm sorry if this has been addressed here before, I rarely visit this forum, but it just drives me crazy. I also see it consistently in news stories on the local news stations' websites, e.g. "Fifteen resident's had to be evacuated..."

I am beginning to wonder if this is so widespread that someone just changed the rules of pluralization and didn't tell anyone.
Count your blessing's (just kidding) . I know someone who seems to do this to just about every word that ends with an "s", "see's", "take's", "wait's", etc.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ddm2k View Post
Is there an equivalent of possession for inanimate objects?

These sentences sound correct when dealing with a person:
1 - The man's beard was gray
2 - The man whose beard was gray

Replaced with an inanimate object, things get weird:
3 - The bed's comforter was threadbare
4 - The bed whose comforter was threadbare

Number 4 is like throwing a stick right in someone's bicycle spokes. Full stop. Does not compute. Is the fourth structure just simply not an option if one wishes to follow the rules?

The closest thing I can think of would be to write "The bed's comforter, which was threadbare"
The comforter on the bed was threadbare(I think?)
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Old 08-09-2018, 09:07 PM
 
Location: Log "cabin" west of Bangor
7,056 posts, read 9,011,492 times
Reputation: 15613
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth View Post
Bless you for mentioning this!

I wonder if the kind of grammar errors we often see and hear are peculiar to the US, or do Canadians make the same mistakes? And Aussies, and Brits? Are their school systems better at teaching correct grammar? I've lived in states, where none of the schools teach basic grammar on the elementary level, nor advanced grammar and writing at the HS level. Some of the journalists being complained about here are from that type of school.
I participate in a number of forums, some of which are international in scope. I have noticed that folks from England seem to be even *worse* at spelling and grammar than those of us in the US. In either case, it is difficult to discern whether this is due to defects in the education system(s), or the average intelligence of those who tend to participate in on-line forums.

Frankly, when I see these errors in the writings of forum posters, I automatically assume that the poster is either stupid or careless and treat their posts accordingly.

I am highly amused by those who attempt to use words and phrases which they have (presumably) *heard* previously, but their usage indicates that they have absolutely no clue as to what they are actually saying. For instance, sometimes I see the phrase "...for all intensive purposes...", Now, I realize that that the phrase they are actually intending is "...for all intents and purposes...", but it is clear that he/she is just parroting something heard before but is practically clueless as to what it means.

Such errors are especially amusing when the poster is attempting to assume a position of superior intelligence/knowledge, but his/her demonstration of writing shows that he/she is clearly lacking in both intelligence and knowledge. The misuse/ignorance of homonyms is funny enough, but what really gets me is those for whom the correct spelling of words having as few as two or three letters is clearly beyond their abilities.

Another amusing thing is spelling errors that would have been flagged by the spell checkers incorporated in browsers. Current technology isn't capable of dealing with incorrect usage of homonyms, but I often see gross spelling errors that would have almost certainly been flagged and the poster is either too stupid or doesn't care enough to bother with correcting them. Sometimes, I am almost literally 'laughing out loud' when someone is attempting to appear 'smart', but his/her writing shows him/her to be a moron.
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Old 08-10-2018, 06:22 AM
 
5,718 posts, read 7,203,819 times
Reputation: 10798
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zymer View Post
I am highly amused by those who attempt to use words and phrases which they have (presumably) *heard* previously, but their usage indicates that they have absolutely no clue as to what they are actually saying. For instance, sometimes I see the phrase "...for all intensive purposes...", Now, I realize that that the phrase they are actually intending is "...for all intents and purposes...", but it is clear that he/she is just parroting something heard before but is practically clueless as to what it means.

per say

wahlah
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Old 08-10-2018, 06:30 AM
 
1,096 posts, read 1,038,671 times
Reputation: 1745
Quote:
Originally Posted by P47P47 View Post
The Hells Angels MC writes their name without the use of an apostrophe.
I don't look up to them as a role model of educational or social values.
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Old 08-10-2018, 08:02 AM
 
5,718 posts, read 7,203,819 times
Reputation: 10798
Quote:
Originally Posted by ApePeeD View Post
I don't look up to them as a role model of educational or social values.
How about the Pagan's?
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Old 08-10-2018, 08:58 AM
 
Location: San Diego
18,614 posts, read 7,454,055 times
Reputation: 14864
Even some lawyers' usage of English is marginal at best.
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Old 08-10-2018, 09:06 AM
 
11,541 posts, read 12,565,080 times
Reputation: 15638
Poor Grammar can be rather irritating.

I once had a boss, who was a former librarian. English was not her first language, so one must make allowances. However, she had a master's in library science. Her syntax, vocabulary, and grammar were atrocious. I don't know how she passed high school, let alone, obtain a graduate degree in library science. Her job required impeccable writing skills and somehow, she got away with ineptitude.
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Old 08-10-2018, 09:16 AM
 
Location: Elsewhere
88,003 posts, read 83,827,560 times
Reputation: 114226
Quote:
Originally Posted by Zymer View Post
I participate in a number of forums, some of which are international in scope. I have noticed that folks from England seem to be even *worse* at spelling and grammar than those of us in the US. In either case, it is difficult to discern whether this is due to defects in the education system(s), or the average intelligence of those who tend to participate in on-line forums.

Frankly, when I see these errors in the writings of forum posters, I automatically assume that the poster is either stupid or careless and treat their posts accordingly.

I am highly amused by those who attempt to use words and phrases which they have (presumably) *heard* previously, but their usage indicates that they have absolutely no clue as to what they are actually saying. For instance, sometimes I see the phrase "...for all intensive purposes...", Now, I realize that that the phrase they are actually intending is "...for all intents and purposes...", but it is clear that he/she is just parroting something heard before but is practically clueless as to what it means.

Such errors are especially amusing when the poster is attempting to assume a position of superior intelligence/knowledge, but his/her demonstration of writing shows that he/she is clearly lacking in both intelligence and knowledge. The misuse/ignorance of homonyms is funny enough, but what really gets me is those for whom the correct spelling of words having as few as two or three letters is clearly beyond their abilities.

Another amusing thing is spelling errors that would have been flagged by the spell checkers incorporated in browsers. Current technology isn't capable of dealing with incorrect usage of homonyms, but I often see gross spelling errors that would have almost certainly been flagged and the poster is either too stupid or doesn't care enough to bother with correcting them. Sometimes, I am almost literally 'laughing out loud' when someone is attempting to appear 'smart', but his/her writing shows him/her to be a moron.
I called my niece out on that one a few years ago. She is an intelligent young woman, but she thought that "for all intensive purposes" was the phrase. She thanked me for correcting her, though.

Another one I've seen is "a hard road to hoe". It doesn't make any sense, but given that there are fewer people who have ever used a hoe, the reference probably doesn't come easily to mind.
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Old 08-10-2018, 09:29 AM
 
3,455 posts, read 4,785,983 times
Reputation: 7002
The thing about this is most people just simply do not care. I often notice people mixing up "their" and "there" or "affect" and "effect." I also see people use "alot" instead of "a lot" when the word "alot" does not even exist. I just kind of shake my head and move on.

What bothers me more is emails I get that are just a plain train wreck. I receive some that are full of text slang and short acronyms. Now that drives me insane. Some people need to realize emails are supposed to be more formal letters not sloppy, slang/acronym filled texts.
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